The Memphis Grizzlies played the Miami Heat tonight at the Kaseya Center. The close game was marked by a step-back game-winner from Ja Morant to put the score at 110-108 at the buzzer. Morant’s electrifying buzzer-beater had the NBA world buzzing. When the topic made its way to the TNT studio, it made Shaquille O’Neal wish he had gotten the ball in those final seconds.
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Typically, game winners are taken by players with a deep bag who can score in difficult settings. And as dominant as Shaq was, he was a fairly one-dimensional player. So, while he dominated games from the beginning, Shaq wasn’t given the opportunities to close out games.
More importantly, he had guards like Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant around him for a major portion of his career. They were simply the best for crunch moments and were the obvious choice for game-winners. While appreciating Morant’s game, Shaq said that he only had one true game-winner in his career.
He said, “I wish I knew what that felt like. Demand the ball in the last couple of seconds, hit the game-winning shot…I only hit one versus Utah, baseline fadeaway.” Picturing the 7’1 giant hit a fadeaway was a tough task for Candace Parker. Questioning the validity of his claim, Parker laughed at Shaq, saying, “This big seven footer fading away.”
Turns out that Shaq didn’t make it up. He actually did hit a fadeaway game-winner against the Utah Jazz in 1997. On 13th April 1997, the Lakers played the Jazz, who were on a 15-game winning streak. With a little over 10 seconds left on the clock, the Lakers had tied the game at 98. While being double-teamed in the paint, Shaq received a pass with a second left on the clock.
The big fella hit the fadeaway game-winner, shocking everyone in the crowd and ending the Jazz’s 15-game winning streak. It was really difficult for Shaq to make that shot, considering his size and how he was being guarded. However, he managed to turn around within a fraction of a second and shot the game-winner with accuracy.
To his credit, the big fella had a great floater in his package. As per a graphic made by Kirk Goldsberry, highlighting leading scorers by distance in the last 25 years, Shaquille O’Neal dominated from the 6-7 feet range. He was also the leading scorer from 0-1 feet range.
